THE debut album from chart-topper Lily Allen is a pleasant surprise but steel your ears for some pretty explicit lyrics.

All right, Still opens with the top hit Smile and continues in pretty much the same vein.

Allen is a sassy, streetwise girl with plenty to say about love, life and the world.

Her music seems to draw from a variety of influences and can sound almost Streets-like at times, yet pretty soulful at others.

She has a unique voice and a clever way with words that would well see her fill the role of a poet for our times.

Then again, Lily Allen isn't really saying anything new - she offers a fairly predictable and run-of-the-mill commentary on the world we live in and says what is being said constantly (quite rightly) but sometimes more convincingly by other artists.

Needless to say, the album is easily listenable and does offer a few perceptive insights.

It's not groundbreaking but it's deeper than a lot of music on offer and well worth a try.

ECB